welsh national flying club west country products sponsored fourgeres nationalclick on the link below to see the top 100 in the result

kidd & cooke 1st south section 1st open fougeres thursday 23rd may and the above organisation were marking for their first overseas challenge of the 2013 season from fourgeres in central france an average distance of 235 miles

with a more direct southerly route being adopted this year once we got to the english channel it was only expected that the numbers would be down , we believe that this is in light of most fanciers eithier sending fewer numbers as a precaution or just sitting back to see the out come of the switch from the east to the south route the journey as we gather throughout to the race piont was uneventful and the birds arrived safely at their destintion on friday afternoon saturday morning and with the weather on this side of the english channel recording some high temeratures, clear skies and a light north easterly wind, we were hopeful for an early morning liberation to give the birds every oppertunity of getting through by early afternoon unfortunatley with quite a few british organisations advertised as liberating in various locations both fifty miles further in messac and caraten seventy miles shorter ,our convoying team and race controller john watkins sat it out for most of the morning to allow others the oppertunity of going ahead of us finally with most organisations liberated by mid morning it indicated that the line of flight was clear to get our entries into the french skies in the most favourable conditions at 10.45 into a light north by north easterly wind

leading the field for the second time this year ,with 1st south section 1st open winning the west country products sponsored trophy is the newport loft and partnership of kidd and cooke timing in at 11.28 18 with a velocity of 1220.8 the winning pigeon a yearling cheq w/flight roundabout hen originates from the jack corns galaxy lofts pigeons crossed frank sheader sootjen lines ,the dam a past national winner herself from liege "national velvet "was previouslly sold to europa lofts a few years back where she went on to produce a 1st europa one loft race final winner, before being purchased back by the partnership at a blackpool auction unknowing at the time that she would now be one of the partnerships foundationpairings that have gone on to breed winners for these fanciers at club federation and national level here in wales ,the sire is "cookie boy" which has also previouslly achieved the highest award within the pigeon fraturnity with 1st open national and 1st combine maidstone added to this both the sire and dam of this weeks winning pigeon are also sire and dam of the partnership well known "Rainman" which has gone on to win 2x 1st open national winning performances plus numerous club and federation positions

1st south section 1st open winner

kidd and cooke`s old bird loft

kidd & cooke`s young bird set up

for 1st and 2nd centre section 2nd and 3rd open we head to the pengam lofts of davies and coombes who timed in two arrivals at 16.40.00 and 16.40.10 recording velocities of 1219. the leading pigeon out of the two on the clock is a yearling blue widowhood hen of the partnerships original leon boers family which have been well documented over past years at all levels crossed with their latest introduction of frans zowls pigeons the sire is bred down from frans stock through the "prince" lines whilst the dam is leon boers " sprinter" lines which is responsable for at least 4 x 1st club 4th and 7th national winning pigeons over previous years for this partnership the partnerships 2nd arrival also a yearling blue hen is 100% leon boers , the grand mother of this hen has previouslly bred other major winning pigeons including 1st club 1st federation ,1st national and 1st combine against 9.000 plus pigeons ,for the dam herself she too has also some major awards to her pedigree , including breeding pigeons to win 2nd 3rd 11th and 12 th national over the past couple of seasons ,for this hen herself she was raced through out the young bird programme in 2012 had accumilated a few minor club and federation winning performances for 3rd centre section 4th open we head over the valley to treharris to the loft and partnership of mathew and joseph hughes who timed in a yearling cheq white flighted roundabout hen at 16.46 to record a vel of 1207 ,the partnership inform me that the bloodlines of this pigeon originate from marc and lilly verheyde and whilst she hasnt really scored in previous races she has however been a consist arrival on the clock the sire has also timed in on numerous occations with various club and federation positions to his credit whilst the dam unfortunately was hawked in training and has therefore been retained for stock and breeding purposes to maintain the winning lines that are developing for 4th centre section 5th open its the bargoed loft of iddy davies who rounds off this weeks winning top four lofts timing in on a velocity of 1203 ,iddy timed in a yearling widowhood koopman cock which originates from jack corns at galaxy lofts ,this pigeon whilst hasnt shown any noticeable performances this year up until this race, had taken a few club and federation positions as young bird and is a half brother to iddy`s 2011 lilliers young bird national winner so there we have it the first outing over the channel ,obviouslly it wasnt the out come we could have wished for on our first outing overseas as the returns and velocities show and we admit we were slighly disapionted with the outcome at night fall ,resulting with many lofts indicating quite a few of their entries still a drift on clock checking ,however this had no reflction on the convoying team or the liberation as we are re-assured that the pigeons were released and looked after in the best possible conditions ,its just one of those unexplaind moments in pigeon racing that we have to overcome and move forward it was pleasing however to hear at the time of going to press a few gallant pigeons got up and home throughout the following day (sunday) with some arriving just after 6am and in the days that followed indicating a few wernt far away at night fall so we now head off further south to Tours for our next outing an average distance of 350 miles to most welsh lofts,yes we once again believe that fanciers will be more cautious in the number of entries they submit to this race , however there is still a race to be one for one lucky fancier and the prestige that goes with it be it what ever numbers that are sent , so good luck to everyone that gives it a go we also look forward to the added attraction of tarbes and bergerac which are now on the horizon in the next few weeks when we will be transported and liberated with the central southern classic , i also hear that we are now basketing a day earlier than advertised (monday) for these two races to liase with marking times of the cscfc, with a high pressure on the weather front moving in we are hopeful that this will still be upon us and we experience a better outcome than last weekend ,once again it appears that the critics are once again out and about ,and we seem to be the blunt of some comments on various internet chat sites in regards to criticing our organisation , surelly all this un-sportingly conduct is doing is taking away all the pleasures and honour from our winners that have worked hard in preparation for these races and their pigeons which have performed in such hard conditions on the day ,,our reply to these people who insist on running us down is our doors are open for membership so come along and give it a go!!!!, it aint as easy as some are making out , its not easy to win in this organisation against members with such a high competative spirit to achieve the glory of 1st section and 1st open this weeks top ten 1 1/s Kidd&cooke,S 1220.810 2 1/C Davies&coombs,C 1219.838 3 2/C Davies&coombs,C 1219.265 4 3/C M&jHughes,C 1207.556 5 4/C IDavies,C 1203.196 6 5/C IDavies,C 1158.949 7 6/C Davies&coombs,C 1155.450 8 7/C Morris&Lucus,C 1150.982 9 8/C MMayo,C 1138.611 10 9/C MMayo,C 1136.876